Apple ordered to pay on copyright by Chinese court

A Chinese court has ordered Apple to pay 1.03 million yuan ($A159,740) to eight Chinese writers and two companies who say unlicensed copies of their work were distributed through Apple's online store.

The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled on Thursday that Apple violated the writers' copyrights by allowing applications containing their work to be distributed through its App Store, according to an official who answered the phone at the court and said he was the judge in the case.

He refused to give his name, as is common among Chinese officials.

The award was less than the 12 million yuan ($A1.84 million) sought by the authors.

The case grouped together eight lawsuits filed by them and their publishers.